Suffrage Parade, New York City, May 6, 1912

Description

The suffrage parade was a new development in the fight for women’s suffrage in the United States. It was a bold tactic, adopted by suffragists and the more militant suffragettes shortly after the turn of the century. Although some women chose to quit the movement rather than march in public, others embraced the parade as a way of publicizing their cause and combating the idea that women should be relegated to the home. Parades often united women of different social and economic backgrounds. Because they were carried out in public, they also became newsworthy. The media coverage – even when it was negative – helped to spread the suffragists’ message. Some states allowed women the franchise earlier, but American women were granted the right to vote nationwide in 1920, under the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.